2005 fashion show

2005 Ad

MANY YEARS AFTER CAPTURing the world's imagination as America's most glamorous first lady--and now a decade after her death--Jacqueline Kennedy continues to cast a mythical spell. The mystique lives on, and we can't seem to get enough.

That's why people from around the Midwest are converging on Chicago's Field Museum, the final venue for "Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years," a traveling exhibition organized by the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum in Boston and New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Through May 8, the Jackie extravaganza--a collection of rarely seen photos, videos, hand-written notes, and clothing--will dazzle museum guests willing to pay $25, the highest ticket price ever charged by a Chicago museum. The entry fee was much less at the Met, Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C., and the Louvre in Paris, the only other museums to land the show.

After it closes in Chicago, most of the artifacts will go back into storage at the Kennedy Library, not to be seen again anytime soon. Some items belong to Caroline Kennedy, sole survivor of the family that inhabited the White House for such a fleeting period. Her husband, Edwin Schlossberg, is a museum exhibit designer and contributed to the Field Museum effort.

Officials of the Field Museum, Chicago's temple-like treasure house on Lake Michigan, say the princely sum of $25 is not deterring fans of America's "royal" clan. In fact, the timed-entry show is taking Chicago by storm, so reservations are recommended, especially on weekends. On the museum's free days (Mondays and Tuesdays in January and February, for example), visitors are charged only for the Jackie exhibit, or $15.

Women, of course, are drawn to the garments and accoutrements from Mrs. Kennedy's wardrobe, elegant yet simple fashions celebrated for the clean lines, solid colors, and expert tailoring that defined the "Jackie look." But even folks who don't know a pillbox hat from an A-line coat come to rekindle memories of Camelot, the enchanted Kennedy "kingdom" that flourished in the early 1960s.

To enhance the journey into our past, audio headsets with recorded descriptions of certain exhibits can be rented for $5. Some of the narrations feature the actual voices of President and Mrs. Kennedy or commentaries by White House social secretary Letitia Baldridge, JFK aide and historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., or Oleg Cassini, the first lady's official fashion designer.

Items on display include dresses Jackie wore on foreign trips and at White House state dinners; brooches, necklaces, and bracelets; gloves; and pillbox and other hats. One grouping shows her wool plaid riding jacket, hunt cap, and riding boots. Among the eye-catchers are the oversized images--both color and black-and-white--of one of the 20th century's most photographed persons.

Videos showcase Jackie's sense of style and understanding of other cultures. At the beginning of the exhibition, we see her campaigning for her husband, addressing potential voters in Spanish and Italian. The inauguration on Jan. 20, 1961, is recalled in a three-minute color excerpt of the ceremony and still photos of the inaugural balls, along with ball tickets and invitations.

In a mini-theater, clips of the first lady's world travels include the 1962 goodwill tour of India and Pakistan with her sister, Lee Radziwill. Adjacent displays show how her outfits echoed the cultural fabric of the host nations. Response to Jackie's trip to the subcontinent, with images of her riding an elephant and touting the Taj Mahal, was so favorable that a 30-minute documentary, Jacqueline Kennedy's Asian Journey, was released to movie theaters around the world.

Perhaps Mrs. Kennedy's most tangible legacy was her project to restore the White House with historically appropriate furnishings. After a walkthrough with Mamie Eisenhower, shortly before the inauguration, she was dismayed at the lack of antiques belonging to former residents. The country's third-youngest first lady (age 31 when her husband was elected) established the White House Historical Association, a committee that began to search for and acquire objects; some "forgotten" pieces were found stored inside the White House itself.

Speaking about her historic preservation efforts in a 1961 Life magazine interview, the president's wife said, "Everything in the White House must have a reason for being there. It would be a sacrilege to 'redecorate'--a word I hate. It must be restored, and that has nothing to do with decoration. That is a question of scholarship."

A five-minute excerpt from the televised White House tour she hosted in 1962 gives museum-goers a chance to witness her poise as well as take a peek at the art, china, and furniture inside the mansion. On display is the red dress she wore on the black-and-white broadcast, which earned her a special Emmy Award for public service.

Jackie also was credited with changes in the White House social scene, turning it into "a stage for the best in American culture," in the words of Caroline Kennedy, who introduced the exhibition in Chicago. Visitors hear the music of Pablo Casals, Isaac Stem, and Ella Fitzgerald.

In comments on the audio tape keyed to an exhibit on formal dinners, Letitia Baldrige lauds Jackie for "unstuffing the White House," changing it into "a beautiful, warm place for a party instead of a cold, formal, rather boring place." Jackie preferred round tables seating 8 to 10 persons rather than long tables that had been the norm. A mural of the Blue Room shows a seating chart for a dinner honoring Nobel Prize winners, and there are guest lists with her notations.

Jacqueline Kennedy altered our idea of what a first lady could be, and in so doing, transformed the image of America. The objects in this exhibition take visitors back to an exhilarating era in our nation's history--a moment when the world opened before us and nothing seemed impossible.

Contact: The Field Museum, 1400 S. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605-2496; (866) FIELD-03; www.fieldmuse um.org. For a list of Chicago hotels offering "Jacqueline Kennedy" packages that include VIP admission tickets, call (312) 665-7309. Hotel-provided tickets can be used any day of the visit without having to call ahead.

Upon exiting the exhibition, visitors enter a gift shop selling mementos trading on the Camelot era. For devotees of that period in our history, it might be hard to forgo buying a Jack and Jackie T-shirt ($22 or $24), playing cards, journals, note cards, mugs, key chains, pens, or a pad of sticky notes emblazoned with the first couple. Books include a photo-filled, 208-page keepsake related to the exhibition ($35 paperbound) and The Best Loved Poems of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis ($21.95), selected and introduced by Caroline Kennedy. Also available is a DVD of Jackie's televised White House tour.